July 2 Ron Silver

Happy Birthday Broc Peters and Ron Silver.

To celebrate Ron Silver’s birthday I watched Reversal of Fortune. I have to admit July has been a strange month for me. I only watched about 2 weeks, mainly the weekend of the current events. I got a little too caught up in the had action and also disgust at our congress. We are the greatest nation, but we have a lot of problems. I decided that if I had to track down a film that I wanted to watch for someone that I would do that, even if did not see it on that persons birthday it would still be in their honor. One was Edie Falco (I did not think I could sit through the television series that she has appeared in) and one was Ron Silver. A great actor who does not have a lot of films on DVD.

My favorite role of Ron Silver is probably Rhoda. He was on the later seasons after her divorce. Those seasons are not yet out on DVD. I chose Reversal of Fortune since it was probably his biggest role. He played Alan Dershowitz the lawyer who Claus von Bulow portrayed by Jeremy Irons hires to take care of his appeal after he is convicted of harming his wife Sonny portrayed by Glen Close. Ron probably has the most dialog and is the most natural character. Claus was cold and aloof, Sunny was unconscious most of the film, but did have some dramatic moments of being cold and alcoholic. Ron played basketball, swore, was emotional, middle class, caring and dedicated.

July 10 John Gilbert

To celebrate John Gilbert’s birthday I watched The Big Parade. He plays a rich man’s son who is not as industrious as his brother but is his mothers favorite. War breaks out and he has no plans to go. As he is driving he is stopped by a parade of people and sees his friends in the parade to enlist. Gilbert is caught up music and excitement in the air and enlists. When the men get to France they stay at barn in Champillon. There he falls in love with Renee Adoree a farmers daughter. When the men are called to battle the couple are separated and search the lines to find each other. When they finally see each other they run to each other and kiss. This is the scene that is used in Silent Sunday Night sequence. The sergeant drags them back to the truck where Renee grabs his leg and starts to run along. She then grabs a chain at the end and is drug along the ground for as long as she can hold on.

The scene then changes to a long line of trucks and men marching. This is the big parade. The men are shot at by planes. Once they get to the front lines the men are told to add their bayonet and to make attack formation. The men look stunned and hesitant. They then march into a field. They march and march and march. Men are shot and fall and yet men keep marching. Gilbert and two other men take refuse in a shell hole. Orders come for one man to go to take out one of the machine guns. Karl Dane goes after winning a spitting contest of tobacco. He is wounded after taking out the gun and the two men worried about him go out after him. Gilbert finds Karl dead. He then goes mad and shouts and fights the other man is killed. He is wounded in the leg. He shoots an enemy soldier who comes after him. The soldier crawls away once he sees Gilbert come after him with a bayonet. They end up in a shell hole together. Gilbert has the knife to his enemy’s throat but cannot kill him. He gives the soldier his last cigarette. The allies attack and Gilbert is taken to a hospital.

At the hospital Gilbert finds out that Champillon has been fired upon. He is wearing a cast from foot to hip. He climbs out of the bed, goes out the window and gets a ride on a truck to Champillon. Once he gets there the town is deserted and destroyed. Renee and her mother are walking away from the city. There is more fire and Gilbert collapses. An ambulance picks him up. He is yelling Renee name. War is over and Gilbert goes home. His fiancée is now interested in his brother. Gilbert in a dramatic homecoming has lost part of his leg. The filming of this was extraordinary done. He is hugged by his mother who is holding him like a little boy as a montage of images as a young child flash across the screen. He tells her about Renee with such love and light in his eyes. The it last scene is of him with an awkward gait running towards Renee. They are once again reunited.

July 6 Janet Leigh

TCM celebrated Janet Leigh’s birthday with a marathon of films. I watched Angels In The Outfield. I had a hard time watching the film since the sound track was out of sync. Occasionally this happens for a few minutes, but the whole film was off. It is a baseball film. The player would hit the ball and start running and then the sound of the ball hitting the bat is heard. A lot of the film is told in voice over and Paul Douglas as baseball manager when he is swearing the voice is garbled so you don’t exactly know what he is saying but you get the gist.

This film has everything. A woman, Janet Leigh a writer of woman’s features is sent to get the female angle of the hometown team Pittsburg Pirates. She goes to the locker room and sits outside as Paul talks. His voice is garbled and she reacts very shocked and runs out without an interview. She follows Paul around to get a story. How he can’t notice this beautiful woman following him around, I don’t know. Paul walks around the empty field that night and hears a voice, a voice of an Angel. The Angel tells him to cut the swearing, fighting and to be nice and he will help the team win. The team starts to play better and win games. At one game a group of orphans and their guardian nuns comes to the game. One girl sees Angels at the ballpark. Her story gets into the paper. Paul goes to see her at the orphanage. Paul and Janet start to see each other and take the girl on outings after the girl recovers from an illness. The girl actually sees an Angel with each player, in the dugout and at the scoreboard.

The story gets around about the Angels and the commissioner requests a hearing. At the hearing witnesses are called to see if Angels exist. A priest, a rabbi and a minister discuss along the orphan and a nun. After the hearing is the final game for the pennant. The oldest player, the pitcher is dying and struggles through the game. He wins the game which gives them the pennant. Paul, Janet and the orphan are all together, will they become a family? You don’t really know. The final scene is about the great baseball players who have moved on to become an Angel and they are playing in spirit and sound on the field.

July 1 Farley Granger

Happy Birthday Leslie Caron, Farley Granger, Olivia DeHaviland, Charles Laughton, Sydney Pollack, William Wyler and James M. Cain.

TCM had a mini celebration of Farley Granger films. I watched Behave Yourself! After the opening credit’s the characters are introduced, not the actors. A picture of the actor by category. The first credit is of “The Lovers”, Farley Granger and Shelley Winters. It is their second anniversary, which Farley forgot. He goes to a phone booth and calls to see if he needs to pick anything up “milk, butter, gin”. The next booth has a dog on leash tied to the handle. Farley gives the dog part of his sandwich. Shelley states she is wearing his gift “the neckline might be you know sort a kind of low”. Farley replies “You’ve got the furniture for it baby”. As he leaves to purchase her gift the dog whines, and Farley gives the dog another piece of sandwich. The dog pulls against the knot and loosens and goes after Farley.

After a display is broken at an accessory store caused by the dog, Farley is walking home, talking aloud the conversation he is going to have with his wife and mother-in-law about not having a present, people pass by him giving him strange looks. When he gets to his door his wife sees no gift and is disappointed. She then sees the dog, who picked up the card he had filled out at the store and she thinks the dog is the gift. Unbeknownst to them, the dog is involved with some unseemly characters.

The next day Farley sees an ad in the paper for the dog. He can’t get the dog away from the wife and goes to explain the situation. Before Farley gets there the man is killed and hidden so he dealing with another man who tells him that it is not the right dog, without seeing it. Farley left his card and the police find that card on the body. When he gets home that night the police come and take him to the police station, forcibly. At the station the chief stated the death fit the MO of someone else and Farley was released. The next day the paper had the same ad with a different address. He takes the dog to that address. When gets there the man he met the day before was dead in the bath. He runs. When he gets home at 2AM the dog is already there.

The next day Farley goes to the police and explains what happens they are not interested. There is another ad in the paper and Farley convinces the police to go to that address. There are two more dead bodies. Farley thinks it is tied to the dog and is worried about his wife. Shelley is walking the dog and he wants to go to a certain spot. One day at that spot a man hands her a bag in exchange for her package. She tries to give the bag back but he leaves. The man takes the package to Sheldon Leonard and it is a butcher package full of bones. Shelley meanwhile has a bag of money, counterfeit money. They take the bag to the police. Farley takes the dog to a kennel/pet shop and destroys the check tag. Shelley missing the dog, which she thinks ran away, puts an ad in the paper. The pet shop owner brings the dog back.

First arrives Sheldon Leonard and the bag man. The bag man did not know the money was counterfeit. He pulls a gun on Sheldon who also pulls a gun. They end up shooting each other and fall dead in the living room. Farley calls the police. A few minutes later they hear a knock on the door and thinking it is the police open the door. It is the other criminals. Farley having enough fights one of the men. They hear the sirens and the other man then is talked out the non fire escape window and is injured. All the fallen men are worth at least $5000 each. The last scene the dog is a prized member of the household, the mother-in-law is moved out and Shelley is wearing a mink stole (with the price tag still attached) at the breakfast table.

July 3 George Sanders

To celebrate George Sanders’ birthday I watched several of The Falcon films. George plays the character of The Falcon, with grace, style and charm. He is witty, smart, sarcastic and instead of a character disguise he pretends to be drunk. He doesn’t need to pretend to be another person because he can pull off being believably drunk in a second as needed. He is debonair and can charm any women he meets, much to the dismay of his fiancée.

For Celeste Holmes birthday I watched All About Eve. George Sanders played a very different character. He played a theater critic who saw through Eve, Anne Baxter character, almost from the beginning. Mainly because the character was similar to his own.

June 30 Anthony Mann

Happy Birthday Susan Hayward, Lena Horne and Anthony Mann.

TCM has a marathon of films to celebrate Anthony Mann’s life today. I watched The Bamboo Blonde. A film he directed that came out in 1946.

The story is told in flashback by Ralph Edwards. He is a President of a company called The Bamboo Blonde. Every marketable item that you can think of has the title The Bamboo Blonde. Face powder, chocolate bars and hosiery to name a few. A man comes to interview Ralph Edwards to find out the true story.

During WWII Russell Wade plays a lieutenant in the air force. He and his men are leaving at midnight for the South Pacific. At the airport his men arrange for him to meet them at a bar for a party. He goes to the bar, which is out of bounds for military personnel. A man lighting his cigarette stands in front of the sign. Frances Langford is a singer in the club who ushers him into the dressing room telling him he needs to leave. He stays as she sings and overhears some MP talking to Ralph Edwards, who is the club owner. He goes out the back door. When Frances leaves in between shows they go out to dinner. After dinner she takes him to the airport. Thinking him a poor farmer from PA, she loads him up with goodies for the trip. He gets a picture of her to take with him. They kiss and he drops all his packages. She leaves to do her midnight show. He is actually engaged, but his fiancée did not come to say good bye.

Russell and his group go to the Pacific. They are not getting many enemies. They decide to paint a picture of Frances in a bikini on the plane and call it “The Bamboo Blonde”. Russell is not happy about this. First because he is engaged to another woman, which he can’t admit to and secondly he doesn’t even know her name and is worried that she and/or her boyfriend will be upset. They see more action and take down some enemy planes. Russell gets promoted to Captain. On the first mission after the picture is painted a man states “I never saw a blonde yet who couldn’t wreck a city”. There is a story in the newspaper about the plane which Ralph sees. He decides to capitalize on the connection, but Frances is worried.

The plane is going to be flown to New York as part of a war bond tour. His fiancée finds out about the blond and is jealous. She did not write to him, “how did I know he was going to be a hero?” She goes to the airport and has a conversion deliberately so Frances will hear. She is uncomfortable about the situation. Russell asks her to go along till after the party the next day which she does. The fiancée accuses Frances of going for his millions, which she did not know about. The fiancée states that if Frances does not stop seeing him, she will give the newspaper the story of their engagement. Frances concerned for Russell decides that she won’t see him after his tour leaves. After singing that night the air force men think that Frances should go on the bond selling tour. Ralph states “it will start a war on a new front”. Frances joins the tour. There is a high society party and Frances knows she does not fit in with his life-style. Russell’s parents were not invited to the party by the fiancée. Frances decides to go back to New York. The airport is fogged in and she can’t get out. Russell tracks her down and states he will fly her home. He actually flies to his back yard, telling her they are in Canada. He gets out and goes to his parent’s house, leaving Frances in the plane. She sees lights and follows. When Russell goes back to get Frances, Frances goes into the house. When Russell gets back he hears her singing. He pulls her into another room so they can be in private.

June 27 Julia Duffy

Happy Birthday Julia Duffy, Jason Patrick and Toby Maguire.

To celebrate Julia Duffy’s birthday I watched Together Again for the First Time. A happy dysfunctional Christmas film. Julia plays the family matriarch with two boys 18 & 24 married to David Ogden Stiers who has 3 girls 19 - 23. Only the youngest boy lives in the house, all the rest are visiting. They are together as a family for the first time since the parents married 7 years ago. Julia has a radio program about homemaking. She has decorated the house with every possible Christmas decoration. The house has more than 3 stores worth of decorations. It is Christmas Eve and she is getting ready for the dinner celebration. She puts a plate on top of a place setting and decorates the plates. Fake snow with a figure or figures that represents that person. She uses a fork to shape the fake snow.

The family all come home and the fireworks begin at the airport. The youngest son picks up everyone at the airport. The two brothers physically fight. He has a small hatchback and one girl (the mean sister) insists on driving and has so much luggage they have to hold it to the roof of the car. She is mad that her dad did not pick them up at the airport. The plan is, set by Julia, to eat dinner, go to the studio for a television spot and then comeback and have a party at midnight. The parents squabble and they don’t like how each parent treats their children. The youngest girl announces her engagement to a man that once dated the mean sister. He actually hides in the bushes so she won’t see him. He finds a packet of cocaine in the boys room. He tells his fiancé and they are going to wait till after the holidays to tell the parents. The mean sister finds out.

At the television station, the family are to read from the teleprompter and pretend they are having a good time and doing what action is required. Julia reminds everyone to be happy and remember this is her job. It may lead to a television program for her. The mean sister accidentally burned her top while ironing. At the show the oldest boy teases her by hanging ornaments on her back and threading string all around the set. He pulls the string and the decorations fall everywhere on live television. The mean sister then states that he is doing drugs. Everything comes to a halt but Julia goes on and finish the program. The boy leaves. Back at the house they try to get ready for the midnight party. The other son disappears. It turns out the drugs are the younger boy. The family goes out looking for him. They get him back and the family makes up.

The first I heard of Julia Duffy was as Stephanie on Newhart. She played a socialite turned maid at the Stratford Inn. The expressions she had, the room full of clothing racks because her closet was full of shoes. The huffing and stamping of her feet were more child like than adult. The character matured and grew over the years. When she went back home she would do more for herself than have the maid take care of it for her.